181. Articles of Echantment

too much too unsoon it happened
and after or toward it we went
hunting for a trace

blurred like raining
through a mirror and the
steam filling the room

got a way of remembering
what used to happen
a long time from now

maybe he had said that already
or meant to repeat himself
or asked for a ride somewhere

a favorite brand of autocar
if only for the name
or possibly the hyphen

elusive sense taking the
form of vapor though it was
possible to breathe it in

though thought went through
it it
didn’t seem to have done so

if you’d proffered your palm
we might have figured out
this future before it was too late

remembering only what had
never happened thus requiring
the maintenance of archives

I’m not talking about memories
I’m not talking about words
I’m not talking about archives

seems like he is repeating
what I’m thinking of saying
just before I think it

the pleasure of process
is similar to the pleasure of
processing for pleasure

regardless of intent the words
move forward on a path
we cannot quite control or divert

do not worry about these words
they will take care of themselves
and they require no attention

you might hear a
little song in here
somewhere

every word was in perfect order
until we had been asked to attend to them
we do not know what is amiss

let the potato
chips fall in
the mayonnaise

(I think
I’ve got
that right)

left to his own devices
he would build
more of them

still there was no way
to ensure that forgetting would
overtake the worry of remembering

the largest piece
of something tiny
was all he needed

that might be
large enough to preserve
for the future

condensation
didn’t always seem to make things
smaller

this is not a joke
this is how the words surprise you
when you most expect it